Expert NHL Betting Picks Today: May 11-12

Expert NHL best bets and picks for Avalanche vs Wild, Sabres vs Canadiens and Ducks vs Golden Knights, plus smart parlay plays.

May 11, 2026

Expert NHL Betting Picks Today: May 11-12

By:

Daniel Dobish

May 11, 2026

NHL Picks

NHL Best Bets & Picks: Avalanche vs Wild, Sabres vs Canadiens & More – Expert Game Previews

The Stanley Cup Playoffs keep going Monday night with the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild locking horns for Game 4 at Bell Centre on ESPN at 8 p.m. ET, with the Avalanche leading the series 2-1.

On Tuesday night, the Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens meet Tuesday for Game 4 at Bell Centre at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN, while the Anaheim Ducks and Vegas Golden Knights meet in Game 5 at T-Mobile Arena at 9:30 p.m. ET, also on ESPN.

We'll provide single plays and parlay opportunities you could potentially pair with Monday and/or Tuesday's MLB, NBA and WNBA basketball action. Good luck with all of your plays! Let's get started.

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For the latest NHL Odds, including NHL Futures and NHL player props, visit RotoWire's NHL Betting page. For up-to-date NHL player news and NHL Injury Report info, head to RotoWire's NHL Lineups page. You can find more picks at Bookies.com/picks. Here are our NHL Best Bets today, featuring expert NHL picks for an action-packed slate of games.

Colorado Avalanche at Minnesota Wild

The Wild had their backs against the wall in Game 3 at the Grand Casino Arena, staring into the abyss with a 0-2 series deficit against the Presidents' Trophy-winning Avalanche. Minnesota erupted for a 5-1 win as slight underdogs (+114) as the Under (6.5) cashed.

At 15:11 of the first period, Kirill Kaprizov opened the scoring with helpers to Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber, while Hughes was back at 16:44 with a power-play goal, with Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello earning assists. It was more of the same in the second, with Ryan Hartman going for a PPG, with apples to Kaprizov and Zuccarello.

Nathan MacKinnon finally broke the ice with a PPG at 13:11 of the second period, going for Gabriel Landeskog and Nazem Kadri. But, just 20 seconds later, Faber had the crowd at full throat to restore the three-goal lead. Matthew Boldy had an empty-net goal with four seconds left, making it 5-1 with a helper to Faber, his third point of the night.

Scott Wedgewood allowed three goals on 12 shots, and he was replaced early in the second period, as Mackenzie Blackwood came on to allow just a single goal on 13 shots. Meanwhile, Jesper Wallstedt allowed just a single goal on 36 shots.

The home team has won all three games by three or more goals, while the Over is 2-1 in this series. The winning team has averaged 6.3 goals per game (GPG), while the losing side has just 3.0 GPG. Let's go with the Wild to keep up the good work in Game 4, while going with the Over, as this series tightens up significantly.

Wild ML (+110 at Bet365, Caesars and DraftKings Sportsbooks)
Over 6.5 (+102 at FanDuel Sportsbook)

Buffalo Sabres at Montreal Canadiens

After the Sabres picked up a 4-2 victory in Game 1 at KeyBank Center, the Canadiens have bounced back from two resounding wins.

In Game 2, the Canadiens racked up a 5-1 win as short 'dogs (+108) in Buffalo, leveling the series 1-1, while seizing home-ice advantage. In Game 3, the series shifted to Montreal, and the Canadiens put up a 6-2 win, pulling away in the second period in front of an absolutely berserk Bell Centre crowd as moderate favorites (-134) as the Over (6) cashed.

The winning team has averaged 5.0 GPG in this series, while the losing team has managed just 1.7 GPG. If you were expecting a close series, it might be a bit disappointing so far, especially considering Montreal had seven one-goal games against Tampa Bay in a war of the first-round series.

It started like the Sabres might have some fire, as Tage Thompson made up for a brutal Game 2 with a goal just 53 seconds in. However, Alex Newhook leveled the game before heading to the room after the first period. However, Cole Caufield had a power-play goal at 6:05 in the second, while Zachary Bolduc made it 3-1 at 10:43, before Juraj Slafkovsky had a PPG at 12:17. Rasmus Dahlin had a PPG at 14:46 of the second, giving Buffalo some life, but in the third, it was all Habs, too.

Kirby Dach and Newhook lit the lamp in the third, and that was more than enough for Jakub Dobes, who turned aside 26 of 28 shots. Alex Lyon allowed five goals on 36 shots, and his magic might have run out. It will be interesting to see if head coach Lindy Ruff sticks with Lyon or if he goes back to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who was yanked in Game 2 of the first-round series.

Montreal is a snowball rolling downhill, and you have to back the Habs, and we'll keep going high on the total until further notice.

Canadiens ML (-135 at Bet365, BetMGM, Caesars and DraftKings Sportsbooks)
Over 6 (-120 at Bet365 and Caesars Sportsbooks)

Anaheim Ducks at Vegas Golden Knights

The Ducks topped the Vegas Golden Knights 3-1 in Game 2, seizing home-ice advantage, but VGK quickly restored order with a resounding 6-2 win in Game 3 as the series shifted to Southern California.

In Game 4, Beckett Sennecke got the fans out of their seats at 8:43 of the first period on a power-play goal, but Pavel Dorofeyev quickly answered with a PPG at 10:22. Mikael Granlund went for a goal at 15:25 of the first, though.

In the second, Brett Howden notched his seventh goal of the postseason with helpers to William Karlsson and the red-hot Mitch Marner, who had his ninth apple of the playoffs.

Alex Killorn broke the tie with another PPG at 17:58 of the second period with Cutter Gauthier and Sennecke with assists. Ian Moore netted his first goal of the playoffs at 3:43 of the third, with Gauthier and Olen Zellweger getting on the board for his first playoff point.

Lukas Dostal turned things around, allowing just three goals on 21 shots to help Anaheim level the series. Carter Hart coughed up four goals on 23 shots, easily his worst showing of the series.

With an extra attacker, Tomas Hertl made things interesting with a goal with 64 seconds left in the third, flipping the total from an Under (6.5) to an Over. Marner had his 10th assist of the postseason, while Jack Eichel had his 12th helper.

The series shifts back to Las Vegas, so let's take the Golden Knights to bounce back on home ice, and we'll go low on the total, as things tighten up with each team trying to avoid being pushed to the brink in a pivotal Game 5.